At the COVID-19 Global Action Meeting, India called for security of global supply chains and implementation of a vaccination patent waiver

India has urged for "strengthening and securing" the global supply chain, as well as the implementation of vaccination patent waivers, during the US-led COVID-19 Global Action Meeting on Monday. Harsh Shringla, India's foreign secretary, attended the virtual meeting. New Delhi will "unite with like-minded partners and the WHO to reform sub-optimal approval and regulatory processes that are a hindrance to stable and predictable supplies," according to sources, while also calling for "application of the TRIPS waiver."

At the WTO, India and South Africa co-sponsored the TRIPS Covid vaccine waiver, which aims to diversify local manufacturing so that covid vaccines are available to a wide portion of the global population.

The two-hour meeting was headed by US Secretary of State Blinken. During the meeting, India showcased its development support to the world community by conducting 17 COVID management training modules for more than 60 countries.

India said at the meeting that it will use its "experience in testing, treating, and vaccinating a large population spread out across different geographies" to create "customised and tailor-made capacity building and technical training programs" for healthcare workers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, according to sources.

Over 162 million vaccine doses have been distributed by India to 97 nations and two UN entities. A billion doses of India-made vaccinations would be provided throughout the Indo Pacific as part of the Quad summit outcomes from last year.

The Indian Foreign Secretary has also advocated expanding the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network of genomic sequencing and surveillance institutions in the region.

FS Shringla highlighted the internal initiatives India is doing to address the covid epidemic, including fully vaccinating 70% of the adult population and using the digital certification platform CoWin for vaccination purposes. New Delhi is negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding with the World Health Organization (WHO) to share the CoWIN platform globally under the WHO's C-TAP programme.

Sources said while mentioning how "India has worked effectively to contain the pandemic, protecting both lives and livelihoods", FS underscored the role of the Indian Pharma Industry that "helped stabilize global supply chains for vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics during the acute phase of the pandemic". 

India now produces four WHO-approved vaccines: COVAXIN, COVISHIELD, COVOVAX, and JANSSEN, as well as three more that are awaiting approval: CORBEVAX, ZyCov-D, and Gennova. In 2022, the country is expected to be able to manufacture 5 billion doses, according to estimates.